Friday the 13th
by Aurora M. Tepes
Summary: Vincent's birthday...but he doesn't want to celebrate.


**Aurora's Note**: This is a "Happy Birthday" fic for Vincent. It's a few days late…but still. Sorry I haven't gotten any more written on my other stories. I've been busy… And playing Dirge of Cerberus. I haven't finished it…yet… I've only gotten to fighting Rosso and I'm stuck… Stupid vampire. But that's beside the point! For all you _Behind the Demon_ fans, I can't update right now. It's Niara's turn to write and she isn't at this point in time. But she will soon. When all text is in italics, it's a flashback. When the text has '' around it it's thought. Bold and italicized is Chaos talking. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: Don't own it (unfortunately).

**Friday the 13th**

**By Aurora M. Tepes**

**Oneshot**

_"Vinnie! Vinnie!" Yuffie shouted, bounding to the stoic gunman. "Vinnie! BeforeIgetdroppedoffathomeIneedeveryone'sbirthdayandnumberandaddress!" She held out a pad of paper and pen. Vincent stared emotionlessly at her for a moment before turning with a dramatic flip of his cape and stalking off. Yuffie stared, confused, after him. "Well, if you won't tell me, I'll just have to hack into ShinRa's database! Or ask Reeve. Whichever works." Yuffie giggled maniacally and bounced off to find Reeve._

4 years later…

'_Friday the 13th…why does it have to be today?'_ Vincent thought angrily. He scowled around his room, which seemed bright enough even though the only light provided was the gray-shaded beams piercing through his tattered curtains. Thunder rumbled in the distance as small droplets began bombarding the hard ground outside.

'_Wonderful, a storm. Just the thing I need to make my day all the better,'_ Vincent thought sardonically.

"…Vincent Valentine?" Shelke's slightly less monotone voice floated through the rotting door. It was amazing, in a year's time the girl had slowly begun regaining her humanity, she was doing much better than anyone expected. Of course, Vincent was keeping his promise to Shalua. He would never let anything happen to Shelke if he could help it. She had to visit the WRO headquarters frequently for a treatment that was slowly curing her dependence on mako, but most of the time she lived with Vincent in the decrepit ShinRa Manor.

The twenty-year-old stuck in a ten-year-old's body was determined to make the place habitable for the two of them, and therefore dragged Vincent into many home improvement schemes. So the place was a little less dreary. With Yuffie's help Shelke had turned the old lab into a complete library, giving all the former ShinRa records to the WRO, and filling its refurbished shelves with fantasies and other works, more interesting than science reports. Most of the basement had been transformed into more of a luxury hall. One room becoming a media center, another a shooting range for Vincent, yet others guest rooms and emergency rooms. The upstairs was going less quickly.

Vincent chose not to answer, knowing the girl would enter in a few moments anyway. True to his assumption, Shelke entered timidly, squinting around until she spotted him, which, admittedly, was pretty hard to do in the near-atramentous room. She walked a little closer to him, now feeling a little more confident about the area.

"Vincent Valentine, what would you like for breakfast?" Shelke asked, deadpan. Vincent was slightly surprised. He thought for a moment, knowing full well he wasn't going to answer her question.

"I'm more interested in why Reeve, Yuffie, Barret, Cid, Tifa, and Cloud have all called and demanded my presence at 7th Heaven. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" he answered.

"You didn't answer my question," Shelke reminded defiantly. Vincent sighed. She was sticking to her guns, all right. Just like her sister.

"Why do you ask?" Vincent finally conceded.

"I…thought it might be nice for a change. You always do everything around here. I haven't been able to help one bit… I just want to…thank you…"

Vincent sighed and led the way down the half-finished stairs to the newly redone kitchen. He scowled at its cleanness.

'_Too many machines,'_ he thought as he stalked into the room. Granted, some of them were pretty nice. For instance, he didn't have to worry about washing dishes by hand anymore. And having a new gas stove had its advantages, admittedly. But a _microwave_? Seriously, how were you supposed to work that thing? And nobody cared to give an explanation. He had spent three weeks trying to figure out where you started the fire only to realize the thing was electric. Why couldn't someone have told him all he had to do was press a few buttons?

Shelke followed shortly. Vincent, by that time, had noticed the brightly wrapped package on the island in the center. He frowned and inspected it. Shelke fought back laughter, the first time she'd done that in years. Just the sight of tall, entrancingly beautiful, menacing, mysterious, dark Vincent Valentine standing in the center of a semi-bright modern kitchen grasping a package wrapped in hot-pink, purple-polka-dotted wrapping paper in his gleaming metal arm, holding it a little ways away and glaring at it like it could explode at any moment was enough to make even the most humorless person laugh. It wasn't too long, though, before Shelke lost the bout with laughter and fell to the ground, tears streaming from her closed eyes and arms wrapped around her stomach. Vincent, of course, turned toward her immediately.

"Are you to blame for this?" he whispered a little condescendingly. Shelke managed to nod. Vincent glared at her for a moment. "So that's why you weren't bugging me last night like you usually do." Shelke nodded again. "What do you expect me to do with it?"

"Open it," she managed between laughter. Vincent placed it on the island and walked over to the refrigerator, pulling out an apple. He calmly washed it in the kitchen sink and walked out of the room, taking a bite out of it as he went. Shelke stopped laughing and frowned. She grabbed the present and went after him.

"Vincent Valentine," she called. He, of course, didn't stop, knowing what she wanted.

"If anyone calls…I'm going to be alone," Vincent responded, throwing the half-finished apple into a wastebasket and heading for the door.

"But it's your birthday. Surely you want to-?" But Vincent was long gone. Shelke glared at the empty entrance hall before pulling out her cell phone and dialing a number. She waited for a moment. "Yes… This is Shelke… No, he's not here… Yeah…yeah, I think so… What should I do?… Is that really necessary?… Just don't-… Yes, I know that… Yes, but-… Don't you think that's going a little overboard?… No, no… You're right… Yes…yes…I'll do that… Good luck." Shelke flipped her phone closed and stalked after Vincent.

---

"Today's…Friday the 13th," Vincent stated hollowly, sitting in his usual spot in front of Lucrecia. She had long since stopped saying anything…but he liked to think she could hear him. It was comforting somehow to tell her everything. "I think the others are trying to do something for me…but…well, you know how those kinds of things always turned out…"

A whisper resounded around the faintly glowing cave. Vincent smiled slightly, resting his head on his knees to stare side-ways up at her…he felt kind of stupid, like some schoolboy with a crush. But then, that's how it'd always been. He'd never been as cold and distant as usual around Lucrecia she brought out a side of him that even Veld had admitted never to know. But then, she was the only one who could bring any sort of excessive emotion out of him. Except Hojo, that is…but with Hojo it was always rage, hatred, anger. Never could his attentions bring more than that.

"Shelke's doing much better now. She does remind me a little of you sometimes…but is that my own selfish wants coming out again? Sometimes I wonder…" Vincent stood and walked closer to Lucrecia, imprisoned as she was in the mako crystal, the very epitome of beauty. He touched his human hand to the glowing stone, not surprised to find it extremely cold. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you…I'm sorry I failed you. I could have done something…but I didn't. It's too late now, I know. But I just wanted to tell you one more time because I'm not sure how much I'll be back here anymore. I have Shelke to care for now. Things are moving on. I…I won't leave you completely…but I need to move on too. Do you understand? Are you angry? Sad? Happy? All of those? All I've done up to this point is live for myself…I want to live for someone else now. Can you understand that? Yes. I'm sure you can. I have one final stop before I go home. I know what you would say…you want me to go to 7th Heaven…" he laughed slightly, "you would drag me there…but I'm not going to endure that. I'm not strong enough today. Good bye…Lucrecia…"

Vincent turned and strode out of the cave, feeling exceptionally better than when he'd entered. He meant what he said. He was tired of living in the past. He needed to move on, everyone else was. Just as long as he could avoid everyone for this one day, everything would be fine.

---

"Cid! Fly a little lower! I see him!" Yuffie called.

"Shut yer trap, kid, ah'll do wut I want when ah want!" Cid shot back, nonetheless bringing the ship a little closer to the ground.

"Ha! He should never have tried to escape the Great Ninja Yuffie! I'm on my wa-URG!" Yuffie lurched forward, clutching her stomach. "Couldn't you…uh…fly a little straighter…_URK_…old man?!" Cid smirked and turned a barrel wheel. Yuffie threw up.

"HEY! NO UPCHUNKING ON MY BABY!" Cid exclaimed, enraged.

"Then don't-uhn- do that!" Yuffie shot back.

"Yeah, yeah, jus' git down there an' git it over with awready!" Yuffie ran from the deck and jumped from the railing to the ground below.

"VINNIE!" she screamed.

For the first time in years, Vincent jumped back in sheer horror as Yuffie hit the ground in front of him. Yuffie fell down, laughing.

"Yo-your face!" Yuffie managed between laughs. Vincent once again became emotionless and strode away from her. That ninja was so annoying… Yuffie stopped laughing and scowled after him. "Hey! Where are you going?!" Vincent didn't answer, just kept walking. "VINNIE! COME BACK!" Vincent jumped up and away. "FINE! SEE IF I SAVE YOU ANY CAKE!" No response. "Geez, he didn't even look back. And I thought everybody liked chocolate cake!" Yuffie's cell phone rang and she picked up. "Hey!… No, Project: Kidnap the Vampire was a failure. What do we do now?… …No idea… …No, Shelke's not with him… Okay… I got it… No prob!" Yuffie hung up. "Heh, heh, heh… You think you've escaped the Great Ninja Yuffie? Think again Vincent Valentine! I will hunt you down until you SUBMIT TO ME AND MY BIRTHDAY PLANS! YOU HEAR ME? MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"KID! SHADDUP AND GIT BACK ON BOARD!" Cid yelled over the loudspeaker.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses, you old geezer!" Yuffie shot back, ascending the latter back to the _Shera_'s deck.

"OLD GEEZER! WHY YOU #$$&!"

---

"Approaching target," Reno announced into his walkie-talkie.

"Remember, the target may be dangerous. Be careful, Reno," Elena said.

"Don't worry, Rude 'n me can handle _anything_, right Rude?" Rude nodded.

"If you're sure…"

"Of course we're sure. This guy ain't got nuthin on us."

Reno confidently strode forward, his ElecroMag casually in his right hand, leaning against his shoulder. Rude straightened his sunglasses followed his partner into the Forgotten City.

---

Vincent walked slowly through the "glowing" woods in the Forgotten City. It had been so long since his last visit. But he felt he owed it Aerith. It had become ritual over the past four years. On his birthday he would always visit Lucrecia and the Forgotten City, paying his respects to both his love and Aerith. Of course he had, of late, been staying away more often than not.

He reached the lake and knelt down, stirring the water some with his human hand. Even through the leather, he could feel its cool, soothing current. For a moment he considered getting further down into the water…but decided against it since his left arm did have the unfortunate tendency to rust.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here," Reno drawled. Vincent, knowing immediately where both Turks were located, slowly got to his feet, pulling his cape closer about his body. He turned to look at the pair. "Come quietly and there won't be trouble. But…"

"If you resist," Rude continued. "We'll have no choice…"

"But to take you by force. So whuddoya say?"

"Why are you doing this?" Vincent asked, monotone. He knew they weren't in on Tifa's birthday party plans. So why…?

"Orders are orders, you know that. The boss man says ta take you in, we do what we're told. Nuthin personal, you understand," Reno answered cockily. Vincent didn't respond. He understood all too well. As a Turk, you followed orders, no matter what they said. You didn't ask questions. You did it and that was it, even if it went against everything you stood for. And when you were off duty, you were off duty. At 6 o' clock sharp whatever you were doing, unless it specified you were on the job until complete, you were free to go. That's how it'd always been. That was Vincent's only failing as a Turk. He had been first class, top of the top, until the Nibelheim incident. He stood by his morals instead of doing his job. And, as usually happened, it cost him his life. But now he wasn't about to go without a fight.

"We're waiting," Rude observed, crossing his arms. Vincent pulled out Cerberus and loaded it carefully.

"Geesh! Never knew someone who hated birthday parties _this_ much," Reno commented, readying himself. Vincent didn't back down. So this was all Tifa's plot. Well, he still wasn't going without a fight. He didn't want a celebration, he didn't _need_ a celebration, and the others would regret if they were around him this day.

'**_What's wrong, Vincent? You afraid you couldn't control us if you went?'_** Chaos taunted.

'_Shut it, demon,'_ Vincent shot back. Chaos grinned.

'**Oh, have I struck a chord? How unfortunate. You know, I think I would enjoy some time in control. Wouldn't it be nice if I got rid of those two for you? …Oh, ignoring me, now, are you? So immature, Vincent. C'mon, don't you want to be rid of them?'**

"It would be in your best interest to get out of here while you still can," Vincent warned. Reno raised an eyebrow and exchanged glances with Rude.

"Look, man, I don't know what your problem is, but we got a job to do and we're going to do it. Now you can either be a good little birthday boy or do we have to get you to the party the hard way?" Reno responded.

'**Come on, you know you want to. Just let me out for a little bit. I promise I won't kill them,'** Chaos said.

"So what's it going to be?" Rude demanded. Vincent glanced at them, then down at his gun. He was a little low on bullets… No way he was going to let Chaos take over, especially when there was little potential of getting back in control. He half-considered going with them, but quickly decided against it, knowing what the consequences could be. Vincent leveled his gun at them.

"If that's the way you wanna go," Reno sighed.

Both Turks rushed at Vincent, knowing they would have no chance of bringing him down if they attacked separately. Two shots pierced the air, one hitting Rude in the right arm, and the other hitting Reno's right shoulder. Both Turks stared in shock, half at the quickness of the sharpshooter and half at the fact that he didn't try to kill them.

"You should be fine in a few days," Vincent informed, knowing full well they weren't going to attack now. He turned, with a dramatic flip of his cape, and stalked off into the woods.

---

The day was coming to a close and the rain hadn't dissipated at all. Vincent was starting to wish he had just decided to go with the Turks, but pushed that thought aside as the ShinRa Manor came into view. A single light in the second story, along with the small silhouette against it, assured him that Shelke was there, and, more comforting still, that she was looking for his return. He smiled a little. In all, that was all he'd ever wanted: someone to care. His father had hardly ever been there and his mother died in childbirth, which was the reason he didn't have any siblings. He had been so excited when he met Lucrecia and formed a relationship with her. She would do just what Shelke was: wait for him, talk to him, love him.

Of course, with Shelke it was different than with Lucrecia. With Shelke it was friendship, not romance, in fact, it was almost a father-daughter relationship. That was all he wanted for his birthday, all he'd ever wanted, someone to care, someone to love him. She made it worth coming back alive. He knew the others cared…but it was nothing to what she did for him.

Slowly, he ascended the front steps and pulled open the door. The darkness was there to welcome him. He heard footfalls rapidly approaching, echoing in the dark halls.

"SURPRISE!" was the next thing the gunman would hear as he receded in utter shock at the lights brighter than normal glared into his eyes and colorful confetti and streamers flew at him from all directions. He looked around, noticing the rainbow of balloons floating around the gothic room. A table was set up against one wall, laden with food and drink.

"We thought you'd never get back!" Tifa commented, giggling slightly as the gunman tried, to no avail, to disentangle a glitter-gorged pink streamer from his metal arm. He death-glared at the occupants of the room, lingering a little longer on Yuffie, Tifa, and Shelke. How could they? After he'd specifically told them **no**.

"Yo, Vince! Let's get this party started!" Barret greeted. Yuffie turned up speakers so loud that even the old mansion began to shake and some strange popular song that sounded more like the singer was getting choked by a pipe-cleaner began blaring. Vincent winced and shut his eyes as an insane amount of colored lights bombarded the room. Most of the "guests," (Tifa, Cloud, Cid, Barret, Yuffie, Reeve, Red XIII, Marlene, Denzel, the Turks, Rufus, and several WRO soldiers), seemed to like the pipe-cleaner-choked singer and several even began dancing soon into the song.

Vincent ripped the pink streamer from his arm and began to make his way to the stairs.

"Oh no you don't!" Yuffie shouted, catching him by the arm. "This is your birthday party and you're going to enjoy it!" Vincent glared at her, sufficiently creeping her out.

"I didn't ask for a party, I didn't want a party. If you'll excuse me I have something more constructive to do upstairs," Vincent replied, wrenching his arm from her grasp and continuing on his way. The dancing guests didn't notice this. Tifa, however, came up beside Yuffie and watched the red-caped gunman stride up the stairs.

"I don't think that went well," Tifa commented, frowning.

"Naw, ya think?" Yuffie shot back, scowling. "Well, if Vampire Boy doesn't want to enjoy the party, then we'll just enjoy it without him!" Yuffie was about to stalk off and get some food, but Tifa caught her arm.

"No, we won't. This was supposed to be something in honor of and to the tastes of Vincent. I don't think we did that well. Maybe the streamers and confetti and the surprise part were good…I think it's just after that. We're not focusing on him. We're just having fun with what we like and not giving him a second thought. I mean, this is fun and all…but when it comes down to it, it's not Vincent's birthday party unless he takes part in it."

"I still say he should give it a chance!"

"Maybe so…but we should have talked to Shelke more too…we didn't ask her about anything and she knows Vincent better than any of us. C'mon, let's go." Yuffie groaned, but let Tifa pull her over to Shelke who stood staring up at the stairs.

"I don't think he liked it," she stated, monotone.

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about," Tifa interjected. "What would he like? I know we should have figured that out before the party started…but I want to know now so maybe we can fix it." Shelke looked out on the partying group, taking in the couples dancing, the flashing, club-light multi-colored lights, Cid and Barret's drinking contest in the corner, Marlene and Denzel chasing each other all over the place, Rufus and Reeve trading business success secrets, Cloud watching and laughing at the drinking contest along with a few WRO members, and Red XIII playing with the children.

"The lights…they hurt his eyes…you know the experiments caused him to have enhanced hearing and sight, so what we see and hear, he sees that, he hears that ten fold. There are too many people here. Half the WRO members only know Vincent from a distance, and Rufus could really care less about him." She stopped and stared back at the way Vincent had gone. "But then again, he wouldn't even accept my birthday gift to him when we were alone this morning. Come to think of it, no one's asked Vincent what he wanted."

"Then let's go ask!" Tifa demanded, grabbing Shelke's arm with her free hand and dragging both her and Yuffie after Vincent.

---

Vincent felt a throb of pain in his chest and he winced, touching the spot with his human hand, knowing it was the ProtoMateria. He stared out at the stormy night from his second story room. The night suited his mood.

He knew his "friends" would do something like that. Did they even care about him? Probably not. They were wrapped up in their own pleasure. But maybe…just maybe…one day he would be able to join them. That's all he wanted, really. He knew he didn't fit in. He never would. But just once…just once he'd like to be able to. But he'd backed himself into a corner all his life, not feeling like anyone could ever understand him, almost wishing no one would. People thought he was stuck-up. People thought he wanted to be along. He wouldn't blame them if they all left him.

He'd done nothing for them. They had no obligations to him. He wasn't worthy. It was terrible, but true. He wasn't worthy to be their friend. It would be better to distance himself so they wouldn't have to deal with him.

The door behind him creaked open, admitting three forms into the room. Vincent waited, thinking some embarrassment would follow…again…

"Vincent?" Tifa called softly. Vincent turned to them slowly, choosing not to respond. "Vincent, don't you want to come down to the party?"

"Yeah! It's not the same without you!" Yuffie piped up. Vincent shook his head.

"Then why is the music still blaring?" he countered. "If I walk out there I will see a few drunks, a few business men, several couples engaged in an undue amount of PDA, laughing children, and other people who aren't going to have any more or less fun if I'm there or not. All I'll do is take up space." Tifa and Yuffie exchanged nervous, guilty glances, knowing the gunman was probably right. Shelke stepped forward.

"I care," she said, not looking him in the eye. "If you're not there, I'll care. It won't be the same." Vincent had expected something like that from her, but it still startled him somewhat.

"C'mon, Vinnie!" Yuffie added. "You and Shelke can go take up space together! Wait…that didn't come out right…"

"What we mean is…we want to honor you…we want this to be something special for you. And it won't be the same without you," Tifa said.

"Yeah, and you can open all your presents! You'll love what I gotcha!" Yuffie chirped, cheering. "I mean, why do you not want to celebrate anyway? It's not like your mom died or something." Vincent's eyes narrowed to a glared, fixed on Yuffie's form.

"You have no idea what's happened on October 13th, do you?" Vincent hissed. The three stared wide-eyed. "In fact, Yuffie, my mother died in childbirth. It's no surprise my father could have cared less about raising me. I was the reason for his love's death. The only thing I got from him were his name and his features. On October 13th, I died. On October 13th I found out I was less human than anyone could ever be. You ask me why I don't like to celebrate. Let's see how much you enjoy your birthday if you were a demonic experiment."

"I-I-I didn't m-mean t-to…I mean, I didn't know it was like that! I didn't mean to…" Yuffie defended, fighting back tears.

"Vincent, I had no idea," Tifa stated, half-shocked. No wonder he'd rejected the idea of a birthday party.

"But that doesn't mean that every other birthday has to be the same," Shelke stated, taking a step into the room. "You once told Dr. Crescent that the best thing she could give you for your birthday was love. Give us a chance to fulfill that wish." Vincent stared in shock at the girl. "We can't erase what others have done, but we can make better memories that will outlast the bad." Shelke approached him and drew out the pink, purple-polka-dotted, wrapped package. "And you still have to open your other presents." She thrust the package into his hands and waited. Vincent, vaguely aware of what he was doing, carefully peeled the paper from the package, unveiling a normal cardboard box. He slowly opened it and stared inside. Then, carefully, he lifted the framed photo of all his friends holding a sign that read, in large bold letters, "Happy Birthday Vincent." There was Tifa and Cloud, Yuffie, Cid, Barret, Reeve, Red XIII, Marlene, and Denzel. All smiling, all meaning it.

And Vincent's lips turned upward in a slight smile.

"OH.MY.**GOSH**!" Yuffie screamed. "SHELKE! YOU KILLED THE VAMPIRE! YOU KILLED THE VAMPIRE!" Shelke, utterly confused by this statement, hurried to Vincent to see if he was all right. Tifa tried to hold back laughter and was failing miserably. Yuffie continued screaming that the vampire was dead.

Vincent knelt down to Shelke's height and embraced her. Startled, she waited a moment before returning the gesture.

"Thank you, Shelke," Vincent whispered. "You have given me the best birthday present I could ever wish for." Shelke smiled foolishly and hugged Vincent even tighter. "Let's go."

_Fin._


End file.
